Traders in Apac cry foul over poor roads

 By Patrick Jaramogi

The cost of doing business in Apac district has doubled due to the poor state of the roads, New Vision has established.

Traders and business entities engaged in farm produce businesses in Apac are crying foul following the grounding of their trucks with merchandise in the remote villages of the district.

Richard Obongomit, a simsim dealer said he is now helpless after a truck loaded with 400 bags of simsim got stuck in Chawente Sub County, some 15kms from Apac town council.

 “We appreciate the rains; it helped us get a bumper harvest, now it is a problem again. We cannot sell our produce because we cannot transport them. Some are rotting in the gardens,” he said.

Sarah Apiny, a sunflower grower in Chegere described the condition as pathetic and disastrous.

"Despite the bumper harvest, we cannot benefit from our sweat. We shall continue in this poverty," she lamented.

Kwania Member of Parliament Tonny Ayoo said transporting of goods in a truck from Apac to Lira used to cost sh200,000; it has now increased to a range of sh350,000 and sh400,000 due to the poor state of the roads,” he said.

He said passenger vehicles that used to charge sh8,000 are now charging between sh15,000 and sh20,000. “These costs will end up to the consumer because the roads are bad,” he said.

Ayoo was addressing district leaders at the Manifesto Day crisis meeting organized by the Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (DENIVA) to address the poor state of roads in the district held at the Apac Womens’ Development Center.

He said Apac last year emerged as the leading producer of cassava in the region and this year the farmers had got a bumper harvest in simsim, sunflower, groundnuts, maize and beans.

Sam Jamara from the Apac NGO Link Forum said the poor state of roads was hurting business and development in the district.

“Our farmers are suffering because the district and government are not doing much to improve on the bad roads. How can we fight poverty when infrastructure is down and rotten? ” he demanded.

He said the civil society organizations and the business entity would act if nothing is done soon.

Most trucks ferrying farm produce and charcoal were seen parked along the flooded roads.

Majority of the roads linking Apac to neigbouring districts of Oyam, Kole, Masindi, Dokolo and Lira were washed away due to the heavy rains that rocked the swampy district over the last two months.